For those of you worrying about the defense

Here's an interesting statistic. Through 4 preseason games our starting defense has played exactly zero snaps together. I don't think for a second we'll see the second coming of the Steel Curtain this season; however, we should see fairly significant improvement once all 11 starters see the field together.

 

I hope you're right, but what scares me is we've been hearing this for years now. We don't seem to be progressing whatsoever and many of our draft picks don't seem to pan out on that side of the ball

 

I think last year was a pretty good year. Not great but not terrible either. I think as fans we are spoiled. Imagine being a Brown fan.lol I think we go 10-6 and make playoffs . How deep of a run is anyones guess. At the end of the year we will have #10 and #26 and perhaps #53

We should be fine. Our defense might be suspect but we don't need a fantastic defense to be good so long as our potent offense can continually put up 30 points plus per game.

 

Exactly. People need to chill lol. Our depth is horrific, that's what these games have told us. Every game will be different and we should get better. we are officially the dark horse to win it all. I like that.

 

Except, what's the starting 11? How long is Timmons out? Who are the Safeties? Will Shazier stay in the lineup? Lots of questions.

 

I thought for some reason when Tomlin took over that we would have the best secondary in the league but I haven't seen anything close.

 

He was spoken of as being an excellent up and coming secondary mind but like you, I haven't seen it either. LeBeau certainly had his set ways with playing off of receivers and I guess MT didn't want to mess with that routine.

I really don't put a whole lot of stock into the preseason games but losing by 3 TD's and FG tells me that whether they played vanilla or not that the D was not very competitive and that worries me quite a bit.

 

Brian Billick coach for the Ravens was a former offensive coordinator with the Vikings. The Vikings set the scoring record in 1998 with his offense.

The Ravens were never known for thier offense with him as thier head coach.

 

People just need to stop worrying. Too many variables in a season. If we suck we suck. Patience...we are spoiled.

 

Completing 30 of 33 doesn't happen in practice drills with no defenders.

 

One of the reasons he was spoken of as an up and comer was because he wasn't afraid to speak his mind to Vets and show them what they were doing wrong and how to improve. The Lynch story in Tampa Bay is one example where his first contact with Tomlin, he was told he was a great player, but Tomlin would help him be better and he did. Same thing in Minnesota. Since becoming the HC in Pittsburgh he has done that less and less. Remember the story before the SB where he wasn't happy with anyone blocking on interceptions, so he put together a tape to show them hence the convoy of blockers running with Harrison. I think the more input he has the more you will see his finger prints on the defense.

 

Reasons not to worry:

1. Vanilla schemes, not wanting to show their hand.
2. No game planning involved her.

Reasons to worry:

1. The players certainly weren't talking like it's just a vanilla scheme issue.
2. Injuries

 

Reason not to worry:

1. The actual starting defense hasn't even taken a single snap together yet.

Reason to worry:

1. The actual starting defense hasn't even taken a single snap together yet.

 

Except that they couldn't tackle a guy that was in the first set of cuts this weekend....

 

It's pre season so yea it's not time to panic. But if your argument is "just wait till we have our 11 starters" your argument will fall apart by game 1. We always have injuries. Every team does. It's not about 11 starters. It's about the coaching. Good coaches consistently win no matter who they have.... obviously the QB is the exception in today's NFL. SO good coaches with good QB's always win for the most part. If we believe in our coaching and we have a healthy Ben... we should be a playoff team that wins playoff games. You have no excuse if Ben is healthy.

 

A good point, well made.

 

In every year this team won a SB, the 2nd and 3td string in the defense stepped up to the plate and made plays. Don't have much reason for confidence in this current squad (esp. with new OC and players) but if they show "heart" they could rise up to any challenge. If they don't have heart, all of the team's 'offensive water' will run out of the holes in the defense.

 

Butler and Tomlin can only do so much with what they have to work with in the secondary. Name me one player in this secondary that you have confidence in? That's a Blue Chip? Vanilla? I don't care if it's Chocolate, this has been and will be the achilles heel.

The 3rd preseason (4th) game is the final tune up. The 1st team Defense failed. Boy I sure hope that that real Defense shows up against the Cheats. The one that has been hiding the game plan. Brady will be playing. Who is going to cover the beast Gronkowski? Hopefully Shazier. He will have a field day if he get's loose in this secondary.

Right now, Ben and the Offense is our best Defense...

Hopefully they can get through the struggle and gel. Going to take time. Are you ready for the ride?

 

Hey as long as we find a way to win I really don't care lol

 

Some of us want to be able to sit back and watch an easy win after getting up on an opponent.

It's easier on our older hearts....

 

i don't think our corners are that bad. i like gay, boykin, grant, and even cortez if he gets back in form. the safety spot is another story. they needed to upgrade these guys and haven't. they are making the corners look worse than they are. we really need to make a move for someone. this was also my concern with will allen being kept. just not what we need at this point. we need some fresh, good blood at this spot. that would help this secondary tremendously.

 

It also doesn't help that a high draft pick will be on IR this year which was to help with the depth at CB. That is not a knock on Golson just an observation. My hope is that the offense scores enough points to force the other teams to go one dimensional to catch up. If that happens then our defense should have a bit of an advantage but I feel long gone are the days when we win games 16-6 etc...

 

Mac don't you remember now that Troy has retired the secondary especially the safety position will be greatly improved since they don't have to cover for Troy being out of position, guessing wrong, and standing there hair flowing in the breeze as opposing QB'S complete passes to wide open guys. Now Will Allen and Mitchell will make the secondary strong!

Green font implied and said with utmost sarcasm possible.

 

Agree. It's not like this is a veteran defense returning 11 starters. I would think they would need some playing time together (outside of camp cupcake) to learn to gel a little bit.